The Sky Fallen
by ardavenport
Summary: Jedi take care of their own. Three perspectives.
1. Chapter 1

**THE SKY-FALLEN**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 1**

Auurrr-uuh heard another distant thrumming rumble. She looked up, listening, staring off into the sky.

It was Rrruuu-uph's call and his clan mates. Another heavy pod had plunged into the plains beyond the sunward hills.

Only mildly interested, Auurrr-uuh listened long enough to identify some of the voices she recognized before turning back to look down at the sky-fell that had come down in her clan's territory. Rrruuu-uph's sky-fell could be the last of the small swarm that had come down. Or there could be more. Sometimes they struck and killed people when they came down, hot and plowing black burned troughs in the packed ground. This time not. So far.

There was movement around the sky-fell below and Auurr-uuh watched. A creature not of the plains was attending the pod, peering and bending toward it, sometimes touching.

The pod itself was well over twice her height and round. The grasses around the long hole it had dug still smoked. She sniffed the air, scenting a little heat remaining from the violent impact. Sky-fell often cooled quickly. Unnaturally so.

Auurrr-uuh descended the rise down to where this sky-fell had come to land. Others of her clan were coming, but for now she had the sky-fallen to herself. She lifted her head above the tops of the grasses, just high enough to watch.

The being was typical of the sky-fallen who sometimes came out of the pods. How they got into them, no one knew. Or asked. Or cared.

It was taller than she, but thin and standing straight up like a plant, on two legs with small round head held highest on top from which hung long, limp brown hair. This one wore a dark brown covering over its whole body and tough coverings over its feet and legs. All parts of it were covered by brown and white, except for the head and tips of its side limbs. It had no claws, no visible teeth, no protective mane, no tail to strike with. Its coverings were thin and easily pushed aside by the breeze.

Auurrr-uuh tensed to spring up out of the grass to charge. Her jaws would easily snap the small head off the top. It would be quick. And satisfying.

The sky-fell's head turned and its tiny eyes, the color of twilight sky, locked on hers. She froze.

Auurrr-uuh's legs relaxed as she lifted her head, no longer concerned about surprising her prey. There was no surprise now. No fear. No panic. This sky-fell had defenses under its flimsy coverings. Probably a flame sting. A careless Rrrraaauuff could be killed instantly with a smoking hole through the skull or down the throat before even getting close to their target. Auurrr-uuh had feasted on the flesh of young fools like that.

The confidence she read in this sky-fell promised a quick, lightning-like death if she attacked.

She began to circle the sky-fallen and feigned only mild interest.

The sky-fell returned its attention to the round pod and feigned no interest in her.

The pod was half buried in its blackened hole. Char and ash obscured the usual scents of soil and grass along with the smell of the sky-fell and the stinging tang of the singed pod. The sky-fell prodded the curves of the pod before jumping down into the hole. It pressed its long body to it. Pressed the side of its head to it. It probed with the thin extensions at the ends of its two arms as it slid around the exterior of the pod.

No Rrrraaauuff had ever found a breach in the strange, smooth hardness of the pods unless it was broken in its fall. But sometimes beings came out of them. Dangerous beings. Not just from the flame stings. A rare few Rrrraauuff had died in agony after consuming their kills. Nothing could be done with them except to burn their carcasses to eliminate the poison. But many sky-fell beings were immensely satisfying kills. This one looked to be of that variety.

Auurrr-uuh had never consumed such, but she had heard that they were as satisfying as feasting on a defeated prime. More so, some said.

Continuing to circle, she heard others of her clan coming. The situation would be different.

The first to arrive was Aaauuurrrf, climbing to the top of a rise over the pod. He called out his kill-cry loud enough to feel it tremor through the ground before charging. No warning stare from the sky-fell being would stop Aaauuurrrf's bloodlust. Three other new arrivals, frenzied by the kill-cry, crashed through the grass after him.

The sky-fell leapt out of the hole and up atop the pod, standing high and visible, a deceptively easy target. A line of straight green star fire appeared, extending from the end of one arm. It hummed like a slow flame sting. Very dangerous. But Aaauuurrrf seemed not to see the danger. He leapt up.

The sky-fell cleaved his head in half.

And whirled about, the green star fire spinning.

Three more corpses fell, burned, slashed and dismembered of heads, shoulders and foreclaws. They slid down around the crashed pod.

The green star fire swept the air around the sky-fell, a final warning before it vanished. It tucked a shiny tool under its brown covering. It stared down at Auurrr-uuh, its challenge now made real.

Lifting her head, Auurrr-uuh loudly thrummed of Aaauuurrrf's and the others' stupidity. Of their lack of control. And pathetic deaths. The others who were coming would feed well on the bodies of those who did not learn to master their instincts. She continued to circle the pod and increased the distance between her and it, an acknowledgment of the decisive victory.

Still mounted atop the pod, the sky-fell crouched down, long strands of hair hanging down, touching the exterior of the pod. It wanted what was inside like a hhhrrrufff digger looking for a lair of Uuurrrsssh kitlings.

The sky-fell froze and tensed at a thumping from inside the pod. It probed more closely at a round indentation on one side.

Auurrr-uuh halted her pacing when the green star fire, straight as the distant horizon, reappeared. The sky-fell touched one place on the round indentation. The unnatural star fire and the unnatural substance of the pod squealed and flared at the point of contact.

A hole appeared in the indentation, then the head of another sky-fell emerged from inside the pod. It looked up.

This sky-fell was smaller and more slender, apparently younger than the first one, with short brown hair on its head and none on its face. They exchanged high-pitched muffled sounds that hardly carried at all in the air before the larger one lifted the other up. Then, carrying the younger one, it leapt up off, high in the air and landed in the grass beyond the burned area. The younger one yipped.

The larger sky-fell lowered the other down into the grass where Auurrr-uuh could not see them, but she could smell the blood. Not much. But it was sweet. The younger one was injured.

Auurrr-uuh remained still, listening to the rustling in the grass. But she did not approach.

The head of the younger sky-fell popped up, shaded by its own covering, brown like soil exposed by a hhhrrrufff digger in the grass. The head of the larger sky-fell, also covered, appeared directly under the other. They stood together, as one, with the smaller one clinging to the back of the larger one who supported the other's legs under its arms.

The larger sky-fell moved away from the pod. Auurrr-uuh moved with them, closing the distance between them.

Blue star fire appeared from the end of one of the smaller sky-fell's arms. The deadly low hum warned of swift death.

Auurrr-uuh moved away, but still paced them. The blue star fire vanished. She was the highest ranking in her clan in the area. She would follow them and she bellowed out to all the others her course. And how these sky-fell killed.

The grass rustled behind them. Others were arriving at the pod. They would feed well on the good flesh of the foolhardy.

Auurrr-uuh followed, moving with them. The tall sky-fell walked steadily, his steps sure. The smaller one remained watchful.

The sun climbed higher in the sky. Fat lazy insects buzzed among the grasses. Auurrr-uuh panted in the growing heat and snapped at a few bugs Fluffing the hair of her back and legs, she flexed her fore claws and clacked them, a warning sound that produced no reaction from her presumed prey.

The large sky-fell walked steadily on, giving easy warning to any small creatures to dart away before them. The smaller one remained watchful.

Auurrr-uuh tested them repeatedly, but she could not come within eleven body lengths of the sky-fallen without the star-fire appearing, no matter what direction she approached from.

Pausing at a stream, they drank separately with one always watching. The smaller one had to sit on the stones and Auurrr-uuh saw a stiff white shell on one leg, covering its injury like a hardened mud pack over a wound. The smaller one could stand but not walk without the other. Switching her tail, Auurrr-uuh drank her fill.

When they were finished, the taller one leapt over the wide stream to the other bank, with the younger one clinging to its back. Astonished, Auurrr-uuh watched them continue on, their direction unerring. She had seen it jump but, even taken at a full run, she doubted that she could have reached the other bank of the stream. She picked her way across the water on shallow stones.

Auurrr-uuh knew that they were heading toward the nearest tower. All the sky-fallen went to the towers. Or tried to. The sky-fallen had lairs there. Safety. From Rrrraaauuff. Burrowing upward, the sky-fallen enclosed themselves in stone just as diggers enclosed themselves in the ground. Rrrraauuff stayed away from unnatural places of no-sky. And any who ventured into the towers were met with stings and burns from dark lifeless depths.

All the sky-fell that came out of the pods and hollow things went to the towers. The remains, opened and unopened, broken and unbroken, were always sucked up by giant grey sky movers. Usually very soon after they crashed to the ground. Sometimes not. This time not.

And if not, the sky-fallen always went to the towers. If they could. This one did, its pace relentlessly steady.

None of her fellow clan mates joined her until the sun was past its zenith in the cloudless sky. She heard them long before she got close to them. They were waiting for their own sky-fallen to emerge from another crashed pod, and they had heard Auurrr-uuh's warning. Their answering thrums told her that they were disinclined to go after a difficult prey. They had fed from a fffrrrraathmm herd kill that morning.

When the tall sky-fell saw the pod with the crowd of Rrrraaauuff lounging around, it stopped. The younger one kept its attention fixed on Auurrr-uuh who continued walking, going to a rise to view the outcome of the confrontation.

The tall sky-fell moved forward more slowly, toward the pod which had plowed its own long furrow in the ground and dug into a bank of soil. The oldest of the group around it, Hrrruuuph, growled a warning. They were not interested in these sky-fell, but a challenge could not go unanswered. The sky-fell advanced closer and closer, its forearm raised and delicate clawless extension outstretched. Hrrruuuph and the others slowly backed away from the pod.

For the first time, Auurrr-uuh wondered if there was some communication from this sky-fell that she could not detect. She felt the warning as if vibrations of it had come through the air and ground. But it had not.

Attackers would die like the others. Be chopped down with flaring straight lightning. And these sky-fell would be a poor prize if caught with thin and tough flesh over too many bones that would leave them unsatisfied and feeling ill.

Auurrr-uuh shook her head, ruffling her mane, pawed the ground with all four legs and clacked her claws..

A challenge should not go unanswered.

The attention of both sky-fell was upon the others. They seemed to have forgotten about her. She circled far enough behind them to get a good start on an attack.

The blue star fire appeared when she had crossed only halfway to her goal. Auurrr-uuh turned aside, loping away from them.

The others watched. None of the Rrrraauuff had higher rank in the clan than her, even Hrrruuuph. They would not attack now. Even the younger ones. They were better disciplined than Aaauuurrrf.

The tall sky-fell went to a circular indentation. It opened to his touch. There were heads inside with horns and tusks and hair and unformed appendages. The sky-fell exchanged their soft, high sounds, so weak they could not stir a blade of grass. The gathered Rrrraauuff tensed, smelling the fear of those inside the pod. But stayed wary.

Hrrruuuph and the others drew together, exchanging low rumbles. Hrrruuuph moaned one inquiry toward Auurrr-uuh, inviting her to join. But she lowered herself in decline and rumbled that she thought this was a very bad idea no matter how many sides they attacked from. Hrrruuuph and the others went back to their conference. Then they separated.

The small noises from the sky-fell grew louder, filling with fear and anger. Taking their positions, Hrrruuuph's group got ready to spin around and run. There were six of them and they would attack in pairs sequentially.

Hrrruuuph snorted.

The tall sky-fell struck the side of the pod. The opening shut, cutting off the angry sounds from within.

Pounding from opposite sides, one lunging low, one high at the last minute, the first two attacked. But they were anticipated. The sky-fell cleaved off the slashing claws. Green and blue singed fur, shot up and down through fang and skull and body. Spinning, the tall sky-fell slammed his back and the smaller one against the pod.

The younger one should have been vulnerable to Hrrruuuph, leaping over the pod to come down on them. Blue star fire split his head in half and sliced down his neck into his chest. The body fell to the ground as the second attacker howled in pain with severed fore-claws by the green star fire.

As Auurrr-uuh had suspected, these two sky-fell were skilled in fighting, defending together. And very, very disciplined. They appeared so deceptively weak and vulnerable, they must need to defend themselves often.

The last two attackers aborted their charges and moaned their surprise as they viewed the carnage.

The Rrrraauuff who was only wounded pulled herself out from under Hrrruuuph's carcass. She got all four legs under her, but her fore limbs were gone. Only stumps remained. A hideous black gash that had narrowly missed severing her neck marked her as if she had been slashed with a single claw of fire. She had.

Auurrr-uuh did not know her name. It did not really matter now.

Insane with pain and loss, she leapt again at the sky-fallen.

The sky-fell ended it cleanly. Quickly.

The echoes of the fight seemed to remain in the air through the panting and shock of the two survivors. Auurrr-uuh's moaned. It had been a good attack. A good tactic. But she had never heard of any sky-fell who were this dangerous. Not even the ones with flame stings.

The two sky-fell moved on, the smaller one still riding on the back of the other. Still moaning, Auurrr-uuh followed. She had the highest rank.

Behind her, she heard the thrums and rumbles of the other two, calling out what had happened. Others would come to drag away and consume the bodies of the defeated. Auurrr-uuh doubted that anyone would take interest in the pod or what was inside before it was scooped up and taken away by the sky machines.

The large sky-fell resumed its earlier pace. Steady. Unchanged. Its legs were long for its body.

Auurrr-uuh paced it. This creature was not fast, but it could go tirelessly, in midday, like a ttthhhhuuurr runner.

The sun began to sink in the sky.

Auurrr-uuh occasionally bellowed out to her clan and others. She continued to travel with them. Others stayed away.

Steadily crossing the distance, they always headed toward the tower.

When the sky-fell finally stopped to drink at another stream, Auurrr-uuh gratefully lowered her head to drink. She was weary. She knew she had enough strength to follow them all the way to the tower. But she had not eaten since the previous night. Her thoughts stalked ways that she might catch the sky-fell by surprise to make a quick meal of them. Even if they were all bones and their meat was tough there still had to be enough to replenish her strength. And the kill would make it sweet.

Auurrr-uuh shook her mane and rumbled to herself about discipline. She glanced toward the sky-fell. She thought she saw weakness in the younger, injured one who sat on the bank and cast quick looks toward her with its small eyes. But the taller one remained proud and disdained her by showing her its back. Auurrr-uuh rumbled louder about discipline.

They moved on. Crossing the shallow stream and then following it until the sun was gone below the horizon.

The splash of stars that filled the sky gave them enough light to travel by. Some sky-fell lost their sight at night. For these two not.

This part of the plain was smooth and flat with few holes or bumps to trip on, her one hope to catch them off-guard. But the older sky-fell never faltered. The night continued on. The glowing clouds of stars slid across the sky. Long past the last distant rumbles of retiring Rrrraaauuff

Tired and sniffing the air for more familiar prey, Auurrr-uuh was surprised by the dark shadow of the tower ahead, a black shape of no-stars. The star spatter above had followed the sun's path. The night was more than half gone.

A challenge should not go unanswered.

Drawing strength from her tired limbs, Auurrr-uuh ran faster, ahead of the sky-fell. She turned and stopped, facing them, positioning herself between them and their intended lair, still in the distance.

Blue and green star fire appeared, unnaturally bright and straight in the darkness. The tiny eyes of the sky-fell, black in shadow, looked past her toward their goad. She loudly thrummed a challenge, but the large sky-fell did not change its pace.

Auurrr-uuh dove aside before the star-fire could touch her and it passed her by.

Raging and anguished, she bolted after them, overtaking them again. She was hungry now. She wanted them. She wanted the kill. Their bones snapping in her jaws. Their blood in her mouth and nostrils.

Again, the large sky-fell did not slow down. She crouched, letting them come to her. She dove to the side and then back at them.

The green star-fire singed her mane. Furious, Auurrr-uuh knew she had only feinted the attack. She would have been cut down if it had been real. She reared up and lunged. The blue star-fire swung close enough to her to feel the rush of air as it went by, under her nose, blinding her. It burned the air in its wake.

Auurrr-uuh hit the ground hard, her jaws slamming shut when her chin impacted the short grasses. The sky-fell's steady footsteps receded ahead of her. The blue and green star-fire was gone.

Stunned, she tried to understand what had happened to her. A pain, shot up into her head. Not a cut or bruise or blow. It was all of those pains, the essence of pain inside her, sharper than any claw. She lifted herself up off the ground and opened her mouth wide, gulping in the cool air.

She ran her rough tongue over the stumps of her fangs and tasted ash.

The pain lanced upward, deep behind her eyes and false lights briefly clouded her vision.

Shocked, she howled and roared, pounded the ground with her feet and dug up clumps of grass with her long claws. Inarticulate rage and challenge burst from her. Nothing else remained for her now. No fangs, no life, no discipline.

She wanted the kill.

She lunged after the sky-fallen. They had reached the base of the tower. Their backs were protected and the tall sky-fell had put the younger one down by that impenetrable barrier and walked away to face her.

The green star-fire appeared. Auurrr-uuh ran faster, pounding on the ground louder and louder. The vibrations of her attack would be sensed from a long way away. She leaped, claws outstretched.

The green star-fire blinded her, bright like a sun filling the whole sky.

**- - - End Part 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**THE SKY-FALLEN**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 2**

The lock clicked, yielding easily to the subtle push of the Force.

The door to the observation station slid open. A dim yellow light came on inside, but still bright against the blackness.

Qui-Gon Jinn hurried to get his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who waited on the ground with his back to the outer wall. He scooped the young man up. At seventeen, he was no longer the slight young boy he had taken as his apprentice. Qui-Gon lifted, pushing up from his knees as if the Force lifted him up. It did. It had, all day and through the night.

He sprang into the safety of the building, the door closing behind him. Up seven flights of stairs.

Another door at the top yielded to the Force.

The lights and power were on. He entered a minimal work room with bare walls and inset screens and computers apparently going through start-up routines initiated by his entry into the station.

Qui-Gon went beyond that into a living area with bare shelves, storage cabinets and tall narrow windows in the thick walls. Qui-Gon set Obi-Wan down on the wide sleeping platform, careful of his immobilized leg. After many hours of silently being carried, his Padawan winced.

"I'll be back," he said, his hand on his apprentice's shoulder. Obi-Wan nodded his understanding.

Back in the work room, Qui-Gon sat at the main console. There were map displays of the region, sensors, weather satellite feeds and communications. Their sanctuary usually served as an ecological monitoring station for the region. Or a haven for anyone able to reach it.

Taking out his com, Qui-Gon linked it to the console before him. He tapped the selectors, looking for a channel. He found interference, the same that had blocked any signal outside and in the escape capsules. But the observation station had a ground generator to draw from, and some direct tight beam satellite links. Qui-Gon tapped through the menu of available filters and signal boosters until he got a response. The holo-imager at the base of the chair activated.

"Prefect Ulahoo's Suite," the bluish hologram of a tall straight private secretary answered.

"Master Qui-Gon Jinn to speak with the Prefect. Immediately."

The private secretary's expression slipped into shock before recovering.

"Immediately." The holo image vanished. A cloud of static remained, the connection still open. Sitting back, Qui-Gon, exhaled, feeling the Force flow more slowly through him. Finally free to let go of his concentration on direction, Obi-Wan's injury, predators, lightsabers and survival, he felt detached and cleanly separated from the brutal plains below. He waited, no thoughts disturbing his repose.

The blue static before him took form.

"Jinn!" The Grand Prefect of Torik-Sen stood there, clutching a casual robe over a well-maintained and naked body. "Where are you?"

"Station Tah-hef-chu on the Plains of Penance," he stated, glancing at the ID insignia on the screens before him.

"And the Ermatz delegates?"

"The ones who were sensible and did not panic and stayed in their escape pods should be alive. And waiting to be picked up. Eager I would say," he added, remembering their one meeting with a couple of the delegates sheltering in their pod.

Ulahoo nodded curtly. "Of course they will. Immediately." The senior politician waved a hand, presumably a signal for the secretary to initiate the order. "After that, we will come for you as well."

Qui-Gon remained silent.

"You have done the Consortium a great service, Master Jinn."

"I come to serve," Qui-Gon replied flatly, without a trace of enthusiasm.

"We reported to Coruscant that you were missing and probably dead. But the Jedi Council said you were not." The Prefect looked concerned. "How did they know?"

"That question you will have to ask of the Jedi Council."

Qui-Gon cut the connection before the Prefect could continue.

Qui-Gon exhaled, closing his eyes. His head fell back; the back of the chair was not even high enough to support his shoulders. He noticed for the first time that it had an uncomfortable hard plastoid seat. He did not care. His body badly needed rest. But he still had one duty left.

Opening his eyes again, he turned back to the coms. He linked to a hyperspace-relay to Coruscant.

Master Ki-Adi Mundi's holo-form appeared as soon as the connection confirmed to the Jedi Temple.

"Master Qui-Gon," the Council member said in his gentle voice, inclining his tall head in greeting. Folding his arms before him, Qui-Gon nodded his head in respect. "I presume that you are safe now."

"I am. My Padawan was injured by the Consortium guards who were supposed to protect the usurper contingent before we were all forced into the ship's escape pods and abandoned on the Adheris De-ahm Plains. I believe that most of the delegates survived and I have contacted Prefect Ulahoo, who has agreed to retrieve them.

"And though nothing has been said to me directly, I believe that this entire escapade was prearranged by the Prefecture and the Ermatz factions. Possibly as a ceremonial test of worthiness with us serving as champions, since anyone condemned to these Plains who survives receives automatic pardon for any offense they might have committed. I did not inquire of their motives."

"You have surmised correctly, Master Qui-Gon. The Council was so informed. After the report of your demise and that of the usurpers. The Council was not pleased that any member of the Jedi Order would be so used to settle an internal political squabble. The Prefecture will be censured by the Senate."

Qui-Gon supposed that the Jedi Council needed to care about such things as censures and Senates, but he did not. He mutely answered with a nod.

"The Temple will send a ship to pick you up. Unless your Padawan is in need of more immediate medical attention. . . ?"

Qui-Gon shook his head, "No. He has a broken leg and some bruising; his injuries are significant, but not life-threatening."

"Then if you will relay your position, we will send a ship. Your mission is ended. As is the Jedi Order's dealings with the Prefecture."

Qui-Gon felt a rare trickle of gratitude inside him toward the Jedi Council as he copied the information over the com. After Mundi confirmed their location they exchanged one final 'May the Force be with you,' before cutting the connection.

Leaning back in the chair again, Qui-Gon exhaled. Now he was finished. He had only to attend to Obi-Wan.

Getting up, he went back into the living space. Obi-Wan sprawled across the sleeping platform, his eyes closed but his expression pinched. Though the broken leg was firmly immobilized, Qui-Gon sensed the throbbing pain of it through the Force. Obi-Wan could spare no energy or concentration for healing while clinging to his Master's back, controlling the pain, his lightsaber ready for an attack.

Sitting down next to him, Qui-Gon laid a hand on his brow. It felt a little warm, but that came from exertion, not illness. Obi-Wan's eyes opened. A thin film of dust dulled his short, stiff ginger-brown hair.

"Relax, Obi-Wan. We are safe here. And the Force is still with you. It can ease your pain for a little longer. We will be retrieved soon. I will check for any medical supplies here in the meantime," he said, stroking the boy's short hair. Nodding, Obi-Wan closed his eyes again, his focus turning inward.

Qui-Gon got up and began looking through the wall storage units in the room. He found a pantry and modular cooking unit behind the largest sliding doors. Behind others were empty containers, cleaning supplies, pillows, blankets, body cloths of various sizes, a rock collection and digging tools, a variety of games, bins of spare clothes and other things. Qui-Gon had to search the work area to find the med-kit he was looking for. He returned with it, collected pillows, blankets and body cloths and sat down on the sleep couch next to his Padawan.

Obi-Wan stirred, his eyes fluttering open, when Qui-Gon put a pillow under his head.

"The Jedi Temple is sending a ship to pick us up," he said as he took out a scanner from the med-kit.

"Our mission is finished then?"

"Yes." Passing the scanner over the injured leg, Qui-Gon noted that the fracture was no worse though no better either. Obi-Wan had controlled most of the swelling, but there had been no time to do any more than immobilize it with an emergency brace covering boot and all, before they were driven into the escape pods along with the Ermatz delegates.

"The Jedi Council was also deceived by the Prefecture and they are most displeased by it. They have requested a censure from the Senate. We will leave as soon as our ship arrives." Qui-Gon took out a cutting tool and ran his hand over the smooth white plastoid.

"Uh, Master," Obi-Wan started, sitting up on his elbows. "I could actually use some help getting to the fresher first."

As soon as Obi-Wan said it, Qui-Gon needed to use the facilities as well. The Force and Jedi discipline had allowed them to postpone most bodily functions, but now they were no longer being stalked, in immediate danger of being killed and eaten.

Qui-Gon helped the young man get up and hobble, one-legged, to the living area's fresher and then waited for his turn. He heard various thumps and bumps inside, but no trouble. When Obi-Wan finished, he helped him back to the sleep platform and then returned to the fresher for his own needs. The fixtures were simple and generic, but effective. After relieving himself he drank deeply from the drinking water spigot and then washed his hands and wiped his face and neck with a damp hand cloth. They were both dusty and sweaty from their day and night of running. He would have liked to have taken more time to wash off the grime, but Obi-Wan needed his help first.

After exiting the fresher, he sat down again by Obi-Wan's injured leg. His Padawan had taken off his robe, belt and pouches, and loosened his obi and tunics. His eyes were closed, his hands folded over his middle in a obvious meditation posture.

Qui-Gon immediately jolted him out of it when he jerked the boot off of his uninjured foot.

Obi-Wan blinked rapidly and then looked embarrassed.

"Focus, my young Padawan," Qui-Gon said with a mischievous smile.

He began cutting away the brace. And then the boot and pant leg. Underneath, the skin was splotchy and bruised and warm under Qui-Gon's fingers. There were no cuts or scrapes. He felt the heat of the point of injury, sensed the ruptured cells and blood vessels, the crack in the bone like a slice across the nerves and porous soft tissue inside. His fingertips lightly brushed across slightly swollen skin and sparse hair. The break was beginning to heal, the freshness of the wound dimming, but still vivid.

Glancing toward Obi-Wan, he saw that his apprentice had resuming his healing meditation.

He extracted a flexible roll of self-hardening brace and slid it under and around the leg, immobilizing it again up past the knee and down to foot and ankle. The new brace formed a hard, pale pink shell in minutes. After one final scan of Obi-Wan's vital signs, he put the med-kit away.

Now he was finished.

Until the ship came.

Wearily, he got up, took off his robe, and then belt and boots, removed his obi and tabards and loosened his tunics. Obi-Wan had placed his lightsaber on a stand next to the sleep platform and Qui-Gon put his there next to it. He took a blanket and laid it over Obi-Wan before taking one for himself along with a pillow. He laid down next to his wounded Padawan.

Obi-Wan's blue-gray eyes opened.

"Master," he said softly, staring up at the ceiling. Qui-Gon lay on his side, facing him. "Did you sense the thoughts of creatures who pursued us? The Ha-Rarrum?" he asked.

"Yes, their thoughts and especially their instincts were very intense. Very strong," he whispered the last words without meaning to.

Obi-Wan swallowed and inhaled loudly as if he were coming up for air.

"I did not sense that you. . . . were aware of that."

"What did you sense?"

"Calm. Purpose. The Force." Obi-Wan's eyes flicked toward him and then shyly away. "I relied on you very much when we were on the plains."

"I know," the older man answered. "I carried you the entire way," he finished lightly.

A stricken look shaded Obi-Wan's next glance. When Qui-Gon had first released the young man from the damaged pod he had said that since he was injured he should be left behind.

In imminent danger, the feral beings of the plains already watching them, Qui-Gon had sternly ordered him to suppress his fears and climb out of the escape pod and onto his back. Qui-Gon could use to the Force to carry him, and they were stronger together. Obi-Wan had obeyed, followed his training, controlled his fears and clung to him in every way, but not realizing that his Master drew strength from his presence. They had worked together as one, Qui-Gon proud of his apprentice's growing ability. All of Qui-Gon's encouragement then had been about their mission, their shared purpose that demanded all their focus and strength.

"You were a light burden to carry, Obi-Wan. I would not have fared so well without your help," he said gently, laying a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder.

"You did not fear the Ha-Rarrum. As I did," he confessed.

"Yes. I did."

Open disbelief in his eyes, Obi-Wan stared back.

"But I did not cling to my fear. You controlled yours well, but it was still there. It still is." He moved his hand to rest on Obi-Wan's stomach, perceived by many Jedi as a center point of the Living Force. "Let me show you.

"What I sensed from the Ha-Rarrum," he began after Obi-Wan's brief nod, "was their nature. They live to kill. To dominate and consume their prey. And everything is prey to them. Even their own kind. The pleasure they gain from ripping flesh from bone, savoring blood and soft organs is as real to them as the sustenance itself."

"But they are intelligent, Master."

"Yes. That is why they are such dangerous predators. And convenient executioners to those condemned by the Prefecture. Is it their intelligence that you find so disquieting, my young Padawan? That you find so hard to let go of?" A trickle of fear felt under his hand through the Force answered his question.

"There is no life, no civilization, no technology that would satisfy the Ha-Rarrum more than what they have now. It makes them whole. Complete with their world. It is what they are. Did you sense that?"

"I think . . . .I think I was too distracted by their thoughts of tearing us to pieces."

"Aaaah. I see that one can be too focused on the moment."

Obi-Wan almost answered that with a smile. Qui-Gon was always counseling him to focus on the moment, on the Living Force.

"Especially if it is the wrong moment. You must choose your own, Obi-Wan.

"We have encountered many presumably intelligent beings in the galaxy, who have contemplated doing much worse things to us," he went on. "But the Ha-Rarrum are uniquely primal and focused. They form their own brutal reality. So, while we were together in their world, you clung to mine. You chose my moment to isolate yourself from theirs," he finally concluded.

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan confessed, his head turned toward him, the pillow it rested on squashed next to his..

"You did well. You recognized the weakness in your own focus, so you supplemented it with mine."

"But should I not be strong enough to focus. . . . to control my fears on my own?"

"Under such circumstances, injured and constantly in immediate danger of being killed, if you were that strong and disciplined, I would have to recommend you to the Jedi Council for the Trials. But I think that is still a few years away," he told his seventeen year-old apprentice. "That kind of focus only comes with time and experience. Patience. It will come.

"But perhaps I have been remiss in broadening your experience in your training." Qui-Gon's thoughts slowly felt their way toward his own answer. "There are other species with instincts as primal as the Ha-Rarrum. Even among the Jedi. We shall seek some of them out when we return."

Qui-Gon lifted his hand, pointed at the lighting controls by the door. The room fell into darkness with only a few stray lights from the monitors in the work area remaining. The air in the disused monitoring station had freshened since they had arrived. Qui-Gon could hear a few night sounds from the plains below coming in from the narrow windows.

"Master?" Obi-Wan's voice said in the dark.

"Mmmm," Qui-Gon answered, his head sunk in the soft pillow.

"Could any of the Ha-Rarrum be a Jedi?"

Immediately Qui-Gon's mind churned with the complications. While this moon was in the Republic, it was governed autonomously; there was no screening of Ha-Rarrum younglings for Jedi potential. But if the Force willed it, there would be a way. . . .

"Yes. But not until after we have rested," he said curtly, banishing that clutter of thoughts from his mind. The room became silent again, and Qui-Gon's mind drifted toward sleep.

"Good night, Qui-Gon."

He sighed. "Good night, Obi-Wan."

**- - - End Part 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**THE SKY-FALLEN**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 3**

Obi-Wan started awake. He heard nothing in the strange room but his own breathing and his Master's, and the shifting movement of his body and the blanket on the sleeping platform. And the distant chirps and buzzes from outside. The tiled ceiling above was gray with natural light. Turning his head, he saw the sky brightening to a cloudless blue through the narrow windows. It was almost morning.

His leg hurt. Testing it, he moved it a tiny bit and flexed his toes poking out of the bottom of the brace. The pain had dulled to a soreness that told him it was beginning to heal on his own. But he would be glad when they returned to the Jedi Temple where the medical droids could greatly accelerate the process.

Another long heavy breath drew his attention.

Next to him, his Master lay on his side, his features pale in the dim light. Normally, Obi-Wan found his Master awake before him if they were sharing the same sleeping area on a mission. But he now sensed the weariness in the older man. Even a Jedi could not indefinitely draw on the Force. The needs of the physical body eventually took precedence, though Obi-Wan sensed that his Master had been nowhere near the limits of his body's strength. But he was still tired and quite thoroughly asleep.

Tired as well, Obi-Wan yawned. His Master did not have a broken leg to keep him wakeful when he needed rest.

Qui-Gon's arm draped over the blanket covering him. He lay so close that Obi-Wan could feel his body heat, smell the faint staleness of his breath. Normally, he might have edged away from such an intrusion on his personal space, but they had just spent a day and night in even closer proximity. Obi-Wan was too tired to care about the minor inconvenience. And he had drawn badly needed strength and stability from his Master. He was content to remain close to that serenity for now.

Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan let himself drift into the moment. They had found sanctuary, safe away from the dangers below. The sounds of morning from outside slowly increased. In the distance the low roar of the Ha-Rarrum rumbled like thunder. Memory shivered through his thoughts and he sheltered in the calm presence of his Master next to him. It mattered little that his Master's calm was the serenity of unconsciousness. He chose that moment and let it become his reality.

Until a new sound at the edge of his perception resolved itself into the low hum of a ship's engine, coming toward them.

It was the ship coming from the Jedi Temple that would take them back to Coruscant.

Obi-Wan did not stir. He really could not get up to greet them, anyway. But his Master remained oblivious, quiescent. There was no threat, no disturbance in the Force to warn about a danger that was not arriving. Obi-Wan opened his eyes. Qui-Gon remained unmoving, features relaxed.

When a shadow passed over the lightening sky through the windows, the engine sound reached a peak before powering down. Obi-Wan prodded his Master's shoulder.

"The ship from the Temple has arrived."

The dull, slightly aware and mildly annoyed look in Qui-Gon's deep blue eyes changed instantly to full wakefulness. He rolled away and threw off his blanket in one motion. Obi-Wan saw him duck down onto the floor and them pop back up to sit on the sleep couch with a boot that he first tried to put on his right foot and then on his left. After pulling on the second boot, he was up and out the door without a backward glance.

Grinning, Obi-Wan pushed himself up into a sitting position. He stuffed Qui-Gon's pillow behind him along with his own. His lightsaber was on a stand next to the sleep couch next to Qui-Gon's. He used the Force to call the rest of his things to him, boots, robe, belt, clothes. The sides of the boot that Qui-Gon had sliced off his leg flopped around his hands and he tossed the pair of them back onto the floor before putting the clothes on.

He had just put his belt and lightsaber back on when heard multiple footsteps returning.

Wearing just pants, boots and open undertunic, Qui-Gon came back into the room, followed by two Jedi, a hairless Uardra and a nearly hairless Human. The artificial lights came on.

Obi-Wan caught himself staring at the Human, Mace Windu, and looked to Qui-Gon who was putting on the rest of his clothes. The Council certainly had to be very displeased about their mission for them to send one of its members to pick them up.

"Greetings young Obi-Wan," Windu said in a low pleasant voice. "I was just telling Master Qui-Gon here that I have already spoken to the Prefect and expressed the Council's displeasure about his government's deception. And that they will be hearing from the Senate of the Republic about it."

"Our task here is completed," Qui-Gon finished, sparing Obi-Wan any need to answer.

Obi-Wan hastily began unfolding the brown fabric of his robe to find the sleeves. The Uardra - - her name was Nyrin, but he did not know much more about her than that - - silently came over to help him put it on.

"Your delay reporting in did cause the Council some concern," Windu went on.

"It caused a great deal of concern for us as well," Qui-Gon observed, putting on his belt and using the force to retrieve his lightsaber from the stand. It flew a little close to Nyrin's face and she silently scowled toward Qui-Gon.

"Regrettably our escape pods landed some distance apart and a much greater distance away from this observation station," Qui-Gon finished.

"I gather that the indigenous beings here gave you some trouble," Windu noted.

"Even more regrettably, yes. We were pursued for the entire journey." He sighed, effectively covering up a yawn that Mace Windu apparently did not notice. He finally picked up his dark brown robe and shrugged it on. Then he came around to Obi-Wan's side of the sleeping platform.

"Do you need help, Master Qui-Gon?" Nyrin asked politely, stepping back.

"No," Qui-Gon answered as he lifted Obi-Wan, who held on with an arm over the larger man's shoulders; his immobilized leg stuck straight out. "And it would be best if both of you remained wary, in case some of the indigenous beings return for our departure." Windu nodded and they left the room.

Nyrin preceded them with Windu following. Their footsteps echoed in the dimly lit stairwell, going down the many stairs of the tower, getting closer and closer to the ground level. Held aloft in Qui-Gon's arms, Nyrin's back below on the stairs, Obi-Wan felt queasily as if he were always falling forward. But Qui-Gon was holding him up. He might fall, as he would with the Force, but he was safe.

Qui-Gon's warning proved correct when the exterior door slid open, letting in the new daylight.

Six Ha-Rarrum loitered around the ship. Several more paced in the long grasses beyond.

The largest of them, a female and likely the highest ranking, stood closest to the ship and apart from the others, her eyes gleaming with deadly intelligence. Standing, the Ha-Rarrum were only a little taller than Qui-Gon Jinn or Mace Windu, but they stood on four powerful legs, capable of great bursts of speed. Their broad shoulders and chests supported two forelimbs with sharp retractable claws and large heads covered with a think mane of hair that covered their backs and parts of their legs. Grays and golds and pale greens unevenly spotted grays and golds or pale greens their tough skin with colors like the tall grasses of the plains. The large female that faced them now had a dusty golden mane and body mottled with long patches of pale brown.

Opening her jaws wide, she exposed her long white fangs and teeth. A low crooning filled the air, deep and loud enough to feel in the body. The others joined in with voices of slightly different tones in an oppressive chorus.

Obi-Wan clenched his teeth and then consciously relaxed. Qui-Gon's grip on his back and under his legs remained steady and unchanging, his posture undisturbed, but Obi-Wan sensed a controlled wariness in him and the other Jedi.

Standing on either side of them, Windu and Nyrin drew their sabers, bright blue and purple blades hissing into life, but the low thrum of the lightsabers seemed puny and overwhelmed under the powerful drone of the Ha-Rarrum. Obi-Wan's free hand gripped his own saber on his belt.

He focused on the Force. Inside him, around him, in the others, in the plains and the Ha-Rarrum. Stronger than any one of them, a psychic voice lower and more pervasive than any other.

The Jedi stepped forward, toward their ship. The Ha-Rarrum switched their long, tufted tails and paced in place. The Jedi continued.

The Ha-Rarrum lunged forward. Windu and Nyrin took defensive stances, sabers wheeling before them, protectively circling with their backs to Qui-Gon.

The six Ha-Rarrum fell upon the carcass of their fellow, the one felled by Qui-Gon the night before. Only small insects had found it since then and it was mostly intact, except where Qui-Gon had cleaved it nearly in half.

With three landing on each side, the Ha-Rarrum tore the body into two halves and dragged the remains away into the long grass. They heard low snarling as the beings snarled and snapped at each other, apparently arguing about who had first turn.

Without waiting for the others, Qui-Gon strode forward to the ship while Obi-Wan warily looked to either side of them. The entry ramp lowered as he approached. The female Ha-Rarrum snapped at a fellow and then lifted her head to glare at them contemptuously through the grass. She did not like them being there. They were unattainable meat, an irritant that would be dismissed as soon as they were gone. She lowered her head and sank her teeth into the carcass.

Still circling, Windu and Nyrin maintained their defensive postures, but none of Ha-Rarrum even glanced their way again. Qui-Gon went up the ramp first. Windu and Nyrin followed, extinguishing their sabers as they went up. The ramp closed, cutting off the natural greens and browns outside and sealing them into artificial whites and silvers, and the safe smell of technology.

Nyrin rushed forward to the pilot's seat. The steady standby operating hum of the cabin increased as the engines powered up. Windu took his place at the co-pilot's seat. Qui-Gon lowered Obi-Wan down into one of the passenger seats and then sat down as well.

Buckling on his restraining straps, Obi-Wan felt the familiar wavering change in the interior gravity as the ship lifted off. The sky through the forward viewports quickly darkened from morning blue to twilight to the black of space and unwinking stars. Obi-Wan sighed into his seat. Though his stiffly bound leg was uncomfortable and sore and forced him to sit forward in his seat, he felt the planet and his recent fears receding from him. The act of physically moving on always deepened a sense of emotionally leaving things behind.

A beeping from the com broke the calm, demanding attention. Nyrin activated it. The miniature figure of Prefect Ulahoo appeared. Behind Windu, Qui-Gon straightened and opened his mouth, but Windu's hand shot up, the gesture silencing him.

"Prefect," Windu began immediately, "you will be happy to hear that we have rescued Master Qui-Gon and Padawan Kenobi and we will be leaving for Coruscant immediately."

"Of coarse," the politician spluttered. "We have begun picking up the delegates as well. Their status has been restored thanks to the heroic acts of the Jedi," Ulahoo continued placatingly as Windu unsympathetically listened.

Obi-Wan stared past Windu toward the planet they now orbited with its clouded atmosphere and oceans and land masses beneath. Somewhere far below, on one portion of one continent stretched the immense plains that they had left. Obi-Wan doubted that he would ever see them or their inhabitants again in his life. Feeling comfort from that thought, he looked toward his Master, who still sat tense in his seat, intent on breaking into Ulahoo's narrative though Windu showed no signs that he would give his permission.

It's over, Obi-Wan thought intently. We're finished. It suddenly seemed desperately important to him that his Master know this.

His dark blue eyes turning toward him, Qui-Gon seemed to hear his thoughts. A moment later, his furious expression melted. Obi-Wan felt relief flow through him as Qui-Gon's earlier calm detachment returned, the same calm that he had clung to for so many hours on the plains. A gentle smile curved Qui-Gon's lips and he sat back in his chair, folding his arms before him into the opposite sleeves of his robe.

"We are gratified that your purposes have been served," Windu interrupted a long string of praise from Ulahoo, arguments that any Senate censures were unnecessary. "And I, and the Jedi Council, do not believe that any further intervention on our part will be required.

"This communication is ended," Windu finished. Nyrin cut the com. "We're leaving," he said with a glance toward the others. His expression eager, Obi-Wan nodded, while Qui-Gon serenely inclined his head.

The ship shot out into space, into the blackness and stars, leaving the planet behind.

**~~~~~ O ~~~~~ O ~~~~~ END ~~~~~ O ~~~~~ O ~~~~~**

(This story was first posted on tf.n: 29-May-2008)

**Disclaimer:** All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.


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